The Good Results of Car Trouble

On Friday, I made *Black Bean Hummus – it’s delicious, healthy, and contains so much garlic that no vampire will come near me. MMMMMmmmmmmm…. garlic! am aware that black bean hummus, white bean hummus, and any other hummus that contains beans other than chick peas is sacrilegious to purists of Middle Eastern Food. It’s also delicious. Take your purism and peddle it elsewhere, whilst I enjoy my garlicky mixture of chick peas and black beans!

Anyway, back to the point of this post. Yesterday my car decided not to start, and I didn’t feel like riding my bike out to the store today, but I was out of bread. Tragic, right? So obviously, I had to bake my own bread. I considered making pita, since it’s the traditional accompaniment; then I saw the recipe for Olive Oil Salt Bread in the Quick Breads section of Mark Bittman’s massive tome, How to Cook Everything Vegetarian (2007, pp. 687-688. Hoboken: Wiley Publishing, Inc.).

It has 5 ingredients. It’s unbelievably easy to make. I had to try it!

Here it is:

Ingredients:

1/3 c. olive oil, plus more for greasing the pan

3 c. all-purpose flour

1 Tbsp. baking powder

1 tsp. salt, preferably course or sea salt, plus more for sprinkling

1 c. warm water (more or less)

Directions:

Pre-heat the oven to 375 degrees F. Grease an 8-inch skillet or square baking pan with about a tablespoon of olive oil. Put the flour, baking powder, and salt in a food processor and turn the machine on. Pour through the feed tube first 1/3 c. of the olive oil, then most of the 1 c. of warm water. Process for about 30 seconds, then remove the cover. The Dough should be in a well-defined, barely sticky, easy-to-handle ball. If it’s too dry, add the remaining water 1 Tbsp. at a time and process for 5-10 seconds after each addition. If it’s too wet, which is unlikely, add a Tbsp. or two of flour and process briefly.

Put the dough into the prepared pan and press until it fits to the edges. Flip it over and press again. Cover with foil and bake for 20 minutes; then remove the foil, sprinkle the top with a little coarse salt, and bake for another 20-25 minutes, until the top is golden and springs back when touched gently. Cool in the pan a bit, then cut into wedges or squares and serve.

Makes 4-6 servings

Time: about 45 minutes, largely unattended.

I didn’t wait for the oven to be hot enough, and it ended up more crusty, less springy than it was probably supposed to. I recommend this one, anyway!